The Charge of the Light Brigade

These edited extracts are from Paget's own account, The
Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimea Extracts from the Letters and Journal
of General Lord George Paget (John Murray, 1881) >Alvin Wee of the University Scholar's Programme, created
the electronic text using OmniPage Pro OCR software, and created the HTML
version. Edited and added by Marjie
Bloy, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore.

The disposition of the brigade was as follows:

Left.

Centre.

Right.

1st Line . .

11th Hussars.

17th Lancers.

13th Light
Dragoons.

2nd Line . .

. .

4th Light
Dragoons.

8th Hussars.

-- the second line (under me) being formed up about 100 yards in rear of the
first line, (under Lord Cardigan).

The first line started off (down somewhat of a decline) at a brisk trot, the
second line following though at rather a decreased pace, to rectify the proper
distance of 200 yards.

When I gave the command to my line to advance, I added the caution, "The
4th Light Dragoons will direct." [This must be specially borne in mind.]

Before we had proceeded very far, however, I found it necessary to increase
the pace to keep up with what appeared to me to be the increasing pace of the
first line, and after the first 300 yards my whole energies were exerted in
their directions, my shouts of "Keep up; come on," etc., being rendered
the more necessary by the stoical coolness (which made such an impression on
me at the time) of my two squadron leaders, Major Low and Captain Brown, whose
shouts still ring in my ears of "Close in to your centre back the right
flank; keep up, Private So-and-so. Left squadron keep back; look to your dressing,"
etc — sounds familiar to one's ears on the Fifteen Acres, or Wormwood Scrubbs,
but hardly perhaps to be expected on such a job as ours, and showing how impervious
they were to all that was going on around them, and how impossible it was for
them, even under such circumstances, to forget the rules of parade, but which
perhaps had the effect of checking the unusual pace at which the first line
was leading us.

The 4th and 8th, as I have said, composed the second line, under my command.
I led in front of the right squadron of the 4th (the directing regiment). After
we had continued our advance some 300 or 400 yards' distance, I began to observe
that the 8th were inclining away from us, and consequently losing their interval.
At the top of my voice I kept shouting, " 8th Hussars, close in to your
left. Colonel Shewell, you are losing your interval," etc.; but all to
no purpose. Gradually — my attention being equally occupied with what was going
on in my front ("Mind, your best support, my Lord," being ever
present in my mind) — I lost sight of the 8th, and shall for the present
speak no more of them, but hereafter revert to the subsequent actions of that
regiment.

The
Charge of the Light Brigade from William Simpson's The Seat of War in the
East, second series. I am grateful to John Sloan for
permission to use this image from the Xenophongi
web site and which graciously he has agreed to share with the Victorian Web.
Copyright, of course, remains with him.

Click on the image for a larger view

There was no one, I believe, who, when he started on this advance, was insensible
to the desperate undertaking in which he was about to be engaged; but I shall
not easily forget the first incidents that confirmed what before was but surmise.
Ere we had advanced half our distance, bewildered horses from the first line,
riderless, rushed in upon our ranks, in every state of mutilation, intermingled
soon with riders who had been unhorsed, some with a limping gait, that told
too truly of their state. Anon, one was guiding one's own horse (as willing
as oneself in such benevolent precautions) so as to avoid trampling on the bleeding
objects in one's path — sometimes a man, sometimes a horse — and so we went
on " Right flank, keep up. Close in to your centre." The smoke, the
noise, the cheers, the groans, the "ping, ping" whizzing
past one's head; the "whirr" of the fragments of shells; the
well-known "slush" of that unwelcome intruder on one's ears!
— what a sublime confusion it was! The "din of battle!" —
how expressive the term, and how entirely insusceptible of description!

One incident struck me forcibly about this time — the
bearing of riderless horses in such
circumstances. I was of course riding by myself and clear of the line, and for
that reason was a marked object for the poor dumb brutes, who were by this time
galloping about in numbers, like mad wild beasts.

They consequently made dashes at me, some advancing with me a considerable
distance, at one time as many as five on my right and two on my left, cringing
in on me, and positively squeezing me, as the round shot came bounding by them,
tearing up the earth under their noses, my overalls being a mass of blood from
their gory flanks (they nearly upset me several times, and I had several times
to use my sword to rid myself of them). I remarked their eyes, betokening as
keen a sense of the perils around them as we human beings experienced (and that
is saying a good deal). The bearing of the horse I was riding, in contrast to
these, was remarkable. He had been struck, but showed no signs of fear, thus
evincing the confidence of dumb animals in the superior being! [Or in better
language, as I have somewhere read, "This shows how lower natures, being
backed by higher, increase in courage and strength. Truly man being backed by
Omnipotency is a kind of omnipotent creature!"]

And so, on we went through this scene of carnage, wondering each moment which
would be our last. "Keep back, Private So-and-so. Left squadron, close
in to your centre." (It required, by the bye, a deal of closing in, by
this time, to fill up the vacant gaps.)

A Lancer is now seen on our left front prodding away at a dismounted Russian
officer, apparently unarmed. I holloa to him to let him alone, which he obeys,
though reluctantly (for their monkeys are up by this time), and the act, while
it was not very graciously acknowledged by the officer in question, was begrudged
by some who saw it.

But to return to the charge, or more properly in MY opinion to be termed the
"advance."

We had advanced perhaps some 300 or 400 yards, when I perceived that the 11th
Hussars (which regiment started on the left of the first line began to disengage
itself from that line, by dropping back, decreasing their pace gradually, and
inclining to their right, apparently to cover the other regiment (1)
of the first line.

From this moment I of course directed my movements in accordance with those
of that regiment. The 8th Hussars had by this time, as I have shown, left me,
and I was consequently advancing with the 4th alone. Seeing therefore that the
11th were thus slacking their pace, and were themselves forming a second line,
and being simultaneously left with my own regiment alone, I then commenced my
endeavour by a still more increased pace to form a junction with the 11th, and
thus with them form a line of support, the result of which will presently be
shown; but I must now for the present occupy myself with the doings of the 4th.

This
map is taken from Christopher Hibbert's The Destruction of Lord Raglan,
p. 134, with the author's kind permission. Copyright, of course, remains with
him.

Click on the image for a larger view

A line of field artillery was formed up across the plain in our front, consisting
of at least twelve guns. This battery, owing to the dust and confusion that
reigned, had not been perceived by us (by me at least) until we got close upon
it, though we had of course been suffering from its fire on our onward course.
The first objects that caught my eyes were some of these guns, in the act of
endeavouring to get away from us, who had by this time got close upon them.
They had, I fancy, ceased to fire on our near approach, and the men were dragging
them away, some by lasso-harness, but others with their horses still attached.
Then came a "Holloa!" and a sort of simultaneous rush upon them by
the remnants of the 4th and cut and thrust was the order of the day. (2)

To some of the guns, however, horses were attached, and some of the drivers
of these, in the mêlée, tried to let themselves fall off between
the horses.

There were some fierce hand-to-hand encounters, and our fellows, in the excitement
of the moment, lost sight, I fear, of the chief power of their sabres, and for
the point (the great efficacy of which was amply exemplified on this
day) substituted the muscle of their arms, in the indiscriminate appliance of
the cut, which generally fell harmlessly on the thick greatcoats of the Russians.
[The state of many of the hands after the encounter bore proof of this. Captain
Brown's sword-hand, for instance, had actually a bad sore for many days after,
for it must be remembered that no one wore gloves, and the hands were grated
by the rough handles of the swords.]

Well, the work of destruction went on, of which I, however, was a passive observer,
conceiving it more within the province of my duty to observe and endeavour to
direct, than to occupy myself with the immediate destruction of the foe. [Oddly
enough, the possession of a revolver never entered my head, and the only act
of mine, on this day, as regards immediate destruction was that of saving an
officer's life, and happy for me has since been the reflection of this, for
doubtless the revolver would have been a tempting weapon more than once, had
I thought of it.] It is impossible too highly to admire the devotion, the entire
absence of all sense of danger, on the part of the officers through this crisis,
but while perhaps surprise may not be felt at those acts committed in the excitement
of the moment by those who found themselves for the first time in a position
to which, as far as it engendered excitement, the finest run in Leicestershire
could hardly bear comparison — at the same time it admits of a grave doubt
whether it comes within the province of those whose duty it is to direct and
command, to occupy themselves, as some did on that day, in the description of
combat belonging more properly to the Dragoon.

The four or five guns to which I have alluded as being more immediately in
our front, were soon disabled, one of them — that which was the more immediately
under my notice, and the process of the dismemberment of which I had been more
closely observing — having been overturned. (3)
While the 4th were thus engaged, I observed twenty or thirty yards ahead two
or three of the guns scrambling away, drawn by horses with lasso-harness, which
it was evident had thus been attached, so that they might be dragged away at
the very last moment, on which I said to Captain Brown, who was close to me,
"There are some guns getting away, take some of your men to stop them,"
which order, I need not say, was promptly and effectually obeyed. It should
have been recorded of this officer that he was, I always understood, the only
subaltern in the Cavalry Division who never missed one day's duty throughout
the whole war.

We must now turn to the movements of the 11th Hussars.

I have said that my attention had been, almost from the first, directed to
their movements, and I soon perceived that they were apparently pursuing a course
rather inclining to the left of that pursued by the first line. Colonel Douglas
accounted for this as follows. (4).

As he was approaching the point of the high hill (the last of the chain of
the Fedioukine heights) that overlooks the plain, and round the base of which
the valley makes rather a bend to the left as it approaches the Tchernaya, he
perceived in the distance, some Russian cavalry in the plain, formed up in the
sort of open valley or gorge which leads down (as I have said) to the river.
He thought that by a vigorous attack on these troops he might bear them down,
and drive them on to the river, being little aware of the masses of cavalry
by which they were supported. With this object, then, he passed by the guns
in the plain without engaging them [it will be seen in Colonel Douglas's account
that a portion of his right squadron engaged with the guns], there being an
interval between these guns and the base of the hill sufficient for his regiment
(if regiment it could by this time be called) to pass through in line. He therefore
went on thus with the 11th, and it may be fairly said that on this occasion
about forty men of the "Cherubims" [a sobriquet by which the 11th
Hussars were known, from their cherry-coloured overalls, but which will not
bear further translation] advanced against the entire force of the Russian cavalry!
indeed, the Russian army!

Here Colonel Douglas soon became aware of the masses of cavalry that were drawn
up in support of the comparatively few that he had already seen the level of
the ground having prevented him from seeing the main body sooner. He nevertheless
went on with his regiment, ALONE, and advanced some distance, until he was absolutely
driven back, and compelled to retrace his steps.

I must now again turn to the 4th. I have said that it had been my endeavour
to overtake and form a junction with the 11th. Now when we (the 4th) had got
up to the guns, our front rank had nearly, if not quite, got up to the rear
rank of the 11th (on their right) but our onward course was at this moment necessarily
checked by our contact with the guns, which are directly in our line
of advance. The 11th consequently again got away from us. When those guns had
been disposed of, as I have shown, which did not occupy a long space of time,
the 4th (by this time resembling more a party of skirmishers than a regiment),
leaving the disabled guns behind them, pursued their onward course after the
11th, still, as I imagined, in support of the first line — Lord Cardigan's
words always ringing in my ears. They (the 11th) had by this time been compelled
to retire, and we consequently soon met their compact little knot retreating.
When we met, the 4th hesitated, stopped, and without word of command "went
about," joining themselves to the retiring 11th.

Masses of the enemy's cavalry were pursuing the latter, the more forward of
them (who were advancing in far from an orderly manner, and evincing that same
air of surprise, hesitation, and bewilderment that I had remarked in their advance
against the Heavy Brigade in the morning — appearing not to know what next
to do) being close upon us. It now appeared to me that the moment was critical,
and I shouted at the top of my voice, "Halt, front; if you don't front,
my boys, we are done!" (5) and this they
did, and for a few minutes both regiments showed a front to the advancing enemy.(6)

Hardly, however, had we thus rallied, when a cry arose, "They are attacking
us, my Lord, in our rear!" I turned round, and on looking in that direction
saw there, plainly enough, a large body of Russian Lancers formed up, some 500
yards behind us, in the direct line whence we had originally come, and on the
direct line of our retreat! On the impulse of the moment, I then hollaed out,
"Threes about " — adding, "We must do the best we can for ourselves,"
the latter portion of the sentence being directed probably to the officers within
hearing. [I recollect that at this moment Major Low was close to me on my left,
and he has since told me that I said to him, "We are in a desperate scrape;
what the devil shall we do? Has any one seen Lord Cardigan?"] But by this
time, and indeed long previously, all order and regularity of formation had
been lost; but still there was a sort of nucleus left whereon a fresh "rally"
might be made to encounter our new foes, and this was to a certain extent effected
by the individual exertions of the officers, from Colonel Douglas, Major Low
and myself, down to the subalterns, my eye happening to catch at the moment
Lieutenant Joliffe, Captain Brown and Lieutenant Hunt with their swords held
in mid-air, to the cry of " Rally, rally!" when some few stragglers
from the first line (which had long ago been broken up) joined us. [Major Low
about this time, that is after we had effected our new semblance of formation,
and were commencing our retreat or rather advance on the Lancers, said to me,
"I say, Colonel, are you sure those are not the
17th?" to which I replied, " Look at the colour of their flags."]

Helter-skelter then we went at these Lancers as fast as our poor tired horses
could carry us, rear rank of course in front (as far as anything by this time
could be called a "front"), the officers of course in the rear, for
it must be remembered that we still had our pursuers behind us.

When we first saw them, the formation of the Lancers in our rear appeared to
be that of a contiguous close column, and formed up right across our path; and
as we approached them I remarked the regular manner in which they executed the
movement of throwing their right half back, thus seemingly taking up
a position that would enable them to charge down obliquely upon our right flank,
as we passed them, and that would also have the effect of getting them more
out of the line of fire from their own batteries to the south. [I must acknowledge
that the regularity with which they seemingly executed this movement engendered
in my mind grave misgivings as to what would be the result when we came into
contact — we being little more than a rabble of 60 or 70 men, while they were
a compact body, apparently about the frontage of two squadrons, and two or three
squadrons deep: a sort of double column of squadrons, regularly formed up, and
having first effected with regularity a somewhat difficult movement.]

On seeing their tactics, I (from the rear) shouted out, "Throw up your
left flank," when we had made a near approach to them, my object being
to show them a parallel front, but in the din and noise that prevailed my voice
probably reached but a few, and it must be owned that no attempt was made at
this crisis to show a front, the general endeavour being to edge away to
the left (I know not how otherwise to express that for which there is certainly
no military phrase).

Well, as we neared them, down they came upon us at a sort of trot (their advance
not being more than twenty or thirty yards), they stopped ("halted"
is hardly the word) and evinced that same air of bewilderment (I know of no
other word) that I had twice before remarked on this day.

A few of the men on the right flank of their leading squadrons, going farther
than the rest of their line (as flanks are apt to do when halted), came into
momentary collision with the right flank of our fellows, but beyond this, strange
as it may sound, they did nothing, and actually allowed us to shuffle, to edge
away, by them, at a distance of hardly a horse's length. [I can only say that
if the point of my sword crossed the ends of three or four of their lances,
it was as much as it did, and I judge of the rest by my own case, for there
was not a man, at that moment, more disadvantageously placed than myself (being
behind and on the right rear).]. Well, we got by them without, I believe, the
loss of a single man. How, I know not! It is a mystery to me! Had that force
been composed of English ladies, I don't think one of us could have escaped!
(7)

It had now for some time been a case somewhat of the "sauve qui peut"
["save himself, who can"] with us, and there was no attempt at pursuit.
They knew too well the sort of reception they would share with us, did they
attempt to follow us through the ordeal we had before us, ere we got straight
home, and thus the very danger that we had before us was a source of safety
to us. A ride of a mile or more was before us, every step of which was to bring
us more under the fire from the heights on either hand (though on one side partially
silenced by the disabling of a battery by the Chasseurs d'Afrique during our
absence, but of which we were of course at the time ignorant). And what a scene
of havoc was this last mile strewn with the dead and dying, and all friends!
some running, some limping, some crawling; horses in every position of agony,
struggling to get up, then floundering again on their mutilated riders!

Mine was an unenviable position, for I had had a "bad start," and
my wounded horse at every step got more jaded, and I therefore saw those in
my front gradually increasing the distance between us, and I made more use of
my sword in this return ride than I had done in the whole affair. However, with
the continual application of the flat of it against my horse's flank and the
liberal use of both spurs, I at last got home, after having overtaken Hutton,
who had been shot through both thighs, and who was exerting the little vigour
left in him in urging on his wounded horse, as I was mine. (8)

Well, there is an end to all things, and at last we got home, the shouts of
welcome that greeted every fresh officer or group as they came struggling up
the incline, telling us of our safety. (9)

I must now give an account of the remainder of my original command, that is,
of the proceedings of the 8th Hussars.

I have said that soon after our start I perceived that the 8th were gradually
inclining away to their right; that all my efforts were of no avail in keeping
them in their places; that they thus by degrees disengaged themselves from us,
and that my attention being occupied in the movement of those in front of us,
I lost sight of, and thought no more of them. It appears that something of the
following kind occurred:

Colonel Shewell in the advance was leading, or rather in front of (for
technically the squadron leader only leads) the left squadron of his
regiment, Major de Salis riding in advance of the right squadron.

The former heard all my shouts, and by his corresponding ones did all in his
power to rectify the interval which his regiment was losing, and which was getting
wider at every step. Not only were the 8th losing their interval from the 4th,
but the right squadron of the 8th were inclining away from their left, squadron.
Colonel Shewell saw all this as well as myself, and did his utmost to rectify
it, (10) the result being, that not only was
the interval between the two regiments lost, but by the same process the 8th
Hussars fell equally behind the alignment, the necessary result,
when one body goes straight, and the other, if going at the same pace, inclines.
After this I saw no more of the 8th Hussars.

We must turn now to the proceedings of the first line, under the immediate
command of Lord Cardigan, which are as follows, as far as I know them:

The direction taken by this line was down the centre of the valley for a considerable
distance, after which, while the 11th took a direction to the left, the first
line inclined towards the right, as they approached the guns in position.

It will thus be seen that while the first line was originally composed of the
11th, 13th, and 17th, the order received by Colonel Douglas, during his advance,
to drop behind the first line, for the reasons given by him, resulted in the
advance of his regiment down the left of the valley; while therefore the first
line originally consisted of those regiments, the actual first line, which was
led by Lord Cardigan up to the guns, consisted of the 13th and 17th, and it
is with these only that I have now to do.

The character of the advance, or rather the disposition of the several regiments,
at the time when we had got about halfway down the valley, was as follows:

The 13th and 17th were advancing in one line down the right of the valley.
The 11th were advancing (somewhat in echelon to the first line) in rather
an oblique direction towards the left of the valley.
The 4th were advancing in support of the 11th, and somewhat to their right
in echelon to them.
The 8th Hussars to the right of the 4th, and in echelon to them, but following
the course of the first line to the right.

The left of the enemy's guns was thus attacked by the 13th and 17th, and subsequently
by the 8th, and the right of the enemy's guns was attacked by the 11th and 4th.

I believe the number of guns formed up in the plain was eighteen, the frontage
of about ten of which was attacked by the 13th, 17th, and 8th, while the remainder
were attacked by the 4th, except perhaps about two on their extreme right, which
were attacked by the right troop of the 11th.

When the first line had got through their guns, they went struggling on, amidst
desperate encounters of all sorts, but of which I of course was not a witness,
the general feature of their movements being a sort of sweep round to their
left, towards the Tchernaya, reaching in their course to the base of the rising
ground to their front, and making the larger circle, to the inner one made by
US. And probably each regiment in turn must have approached to about the, same
distance, from the Tchernaya, the regiments on the right must of course have
gone over the most ground.

They were then, after many desperate encounters of all sorts, overpowered (as
we were subsequently) by the overwhelming forces opposed to them, and they struggled
home by twos and threes, some of them passing us when we were engaged on the
left, some few gluttons uniting to our "rally."

It was the complete dispersion of those regiments that prevented my impractised
eye from seeing that the successive knots of men retreating constituted, in
fact, the whole of those who escaped; a more perfect appreciation of which would
probably have lessened the pertinacity with which I kept urging on our advance,
to the, tune of "Mind, your best support, my Lord," for of course,
had I known at the time that there was nothing left to support, the force of
that injunction would have, ceased to exist.

It is self-evident that in this glance at the operations of the first line
I know little more than from the rumours common to all. Suffice it to say that,
as regards the advance, all the regiments engaged had probably an equal share
in the fighting, though there can be no doubt that the second line had in the
retreat a severe crisis, to which they only were exposed — that of having to
meet a very strong force of cavalry, formed up to cut off their retreat.

I must now refer to the events which were passing, while we were down at the
Tchernaya.

As I rode home, I remember the, impression made on my mind on seeing the Chasseurs
d'Afrique (the 4th Regiment commanded by Colonel Champeron), appearing as
if they had just been turned out of so many bandboxes, advancing towards us
at a walk at the head of the valley, with a line of skirmishers in their front,
and forming a strange contrast to our dusty and tired soldiers. I thought to
myself as I gazed on them, " You are very pretty to look at, but you might
as well have taken a turn with us, and then perhaps you would not look as spruce
as you do." But I little knew the good service they had been rendering
us during our absence.

This regiment, as I afterwards learnt, or a portion of it, had, on seeing the
mischief that a battery from the Fedioukine heights on our left had been causing
us during our advance, gallantly attacked and silenced it, thus relieving us
from the fire on that side on our return, and an important diversion in our
favour it was; but one, the description of which I will not attempt, as I only
speak of those events that came under my own eye, and for the same reason I
can say nothing of the operations of our Heavy Brigade during our absence.

P.S. — I have said that my orderly, Parkes, was wounded and taken prisoner,
as was also my trumpeter, Crawford. They returned to us from Russia, in December
1855, at Scutari, and from them I heard some very graphic details, both of the
battle, and also of what subsequently befell them in captivity.

They had neither of them, it appears, been unhorsed till on their way home,
and both when near each other. They then ran on foot (Crawford being slightly
wounded) for a long way towards home, when Parkes was shot in his sword-hand
and had to give himself up. During their progress they were attacked by several
parties, consisting of three or four Cossacks each, who, however, always kept
at a respectful distance. On one of the last occasions a Russian officer rode
up, and, seeing that they were about to be roughly handled, said to Parkes in
English, "If you will give yourself up, you shall not be hurt," which,
however, he declined to do.

Shortly after, he was wounded and was thus compelled to do so, and then seeing
the officer still near him, he placed himself and Crawford under his protection,
and they were taken by him to General Liprandi's tent, when he was asked by
the General a great many questions as to the English army, their position, numbers,
etc., as Parkes stated in his blunt way, "We tried all we could to deceive
the General," who (though in a joking way, as he described it) said, "You
are a liar, and I know more about the English than you will tell me."

The General would hardly believe that he was a Light Dragoon (he was about
six feet two inches high), and said, " If you are a Light Dragoon what
sort of men are your Heavy Dragoons?"

Liprandi then said that it was well known that all the Light Brigade were drunk
that morning; and when Parkes assured him that neither he nor any of his comrades
had put a morsel of food or drop of drink in their mouths that day, he said,
"Well, my boy, you shall not remain in that state long," and he called
to an aide-de-camp and told him to give the prisoners a plentiful allowance
of food and drink.

They were the next day started off for the interior of Russia, marching on
foot most of the way, and though at first they were not treated with much consideration,
the treatment became better as they went on, resulting ultimately in every sort
of kindness and attention from every one, Parkes winding up his description
thus: "Ay, my Lord, the officers were not ashamed of being seen walking
about with us."

Parkes likewise told us that there was a rifleman behind every bush in the
end of the valley, taking pot shots at us as we approached, which fact he learned
from the Russians. He also told me that when he and Crawford were running home
together, they fell in with Halkett, whom they found with a bad body wound (this
must have been some time after all the firing had ceased). In accordance with
his cries, Crawford lifted him on to Parkes' back, and he carried him a short
distance, when, to save himself from attacks from the Cossacks, knots of whom
were hovering around, he was forced to let him down and leave him. In returning
shortly after, as prisoners, they found him dead and naked, with the exception
of his jacket.

Notes

(1) I was extremely puzzled at seeing this, but afterwards
ascertained from Colonel Douglas that, almost immediately after the commencement
of the advance, he received an order direct from Lord
Lucan, conveyed by an aide-de-camp of his, that be should thus drop back
and form a support to the first line, thus (consequently) constituting us the
third line, though I was unaware of this fresh disposition till afterwards.
[back]

(2) It was about this time that my orderly, Private Parkes,
a fine specimen of an Englishman, about six feet two inches high, who had lost
sight of me in the mêlée, came rushing past me, his sword up in
the air, and holloaing out, "Where's my chief?" to which I answered,
"Here I am, my boy, all right," — the last I saw of him, for he had
his horse shot under him, was himself wounded, and afterwards take prisoner.[back]

(3) It was at this moment, and I think with reference to
this gun that the following took place. Lieutenant Hunt, 4th Light Dragoons,
was close to my right, when, before I could stop him, or rather before my attention
was drawn to him, he returned his sword, jumped off his horse, and began trying
to unhook the traces from this gun! the only acknowledgment of this act of devotion
being, I fear, a sharp rebuke, and an order to remount. When the circumstances
are considered in which he committed this act, it must be acknowledged that
it was a truly heroic one. He thus disarmed himself in the mêlée,
amid hand-to-hand encounters, and the act which he attempted would have been
a most useful one, had support been near to retain possession of the gun which
he was trying to dismember, though under the circumstances it was of course
a useless attempt — but none the less worthy of record and of a Victoria Cross,
for which he would have been recommended, had the choice lain with me. [back]

(4) The following details are the result of conversations
I afterwards had with Douglas, but in addition to this I find the following
remark made in my Journal, after he had perused what I am now going to narrate.
"In making this attack on the Russian cavalry, I thought I should have
been supported, and that our infantry were coming from Balaclava. A Russian
officer, covered with decorations, surrendered to me in passing through the
guns.

(5) At this moment, I remember with what force, occurred
to my mind an expression I had often beard from the lips of Lord Anglesey: "Cavalry
are the bravest fellows possible in an advance, but once get them into a scrape,
and get their backs turned, and it is a difficult matter to stop, or rally them."
And now, thought I, would this be verified? The few that were left together
(amounting probably to about 60 or 70 in the two regiments) HALTED AND FRONTED
AS IF THEY HAD BEEN ON PARADE! [back]

(6) Lieut. Martyn, Acting Adjutant of the 4th, who was close
to me all the time, has since told me, that when I rallied the two regiments
here and had fronted them, I ordered a fresh advance, which was only stopped
by his and Major Low's expostulating with me, and pointing out the masses before
us (for behind the broken few who were so close upon us, and through them as
it were, were to be seen the main body advancing). To this I can only express
my belief that they were mistaken, for to the best of my recollection I never
meditated a fresh advance, my object in fronting being to save us from immediate
and inevitable destruction, which object, be it observed, was gained by the
front which we — I must say judiciously — showed those who were the nearest
to us, and who were thus for the moment checked in their advance.

We, the 4th, advanced as we did, because until the 11th fell back on us, we
were acting in their support, but from the moment when these two regiments were
united, it would have been clearly an act of madness (if indeed it had been
possible) to have attempted another advance.

I must attribute the supposition in the mind of those officers to this — that
by the act of fronting I intended to advance, for I cannot think that I gave
the order. The difference between showing a momentary front to an overwhelming
enemy and attempting another advance is, in my opinion, very great, the latter
being in the highest degree imprudent, nay impossible. [back]

(7) It should be here explained that these Lancers ("Teropkine,"
I believe) must have debouched out of the road leading on to the valley from
the Tractir Bridge, after we had passed by the road on our advance, the point
at which they were formed up to cut off our retreat being that where the road
issues on the valley. If it were a preconcerted trap on their part, it was a
well-conceived one, and had it been equally well followed up, would have been
fatal to us. [back]

(8) The doings of this brave fellow deserve record. He was
shot through the right thigh during the advance, and holloaed out to his squadron
leader, "Low, I am wounded, what shall I do?" to which the latter
replied, " If you can sit on your horse, you had better come on with us
; there's no use going back now, you'll only be killed."

He went on, and if report speaks truly, made good use of his powerful arm in
disabling some of the enemy. On his return he was shot through his other thigh
(he ultimately recovered), his horse being hit in eleven places. When I overtook
him, he complained of feeling faint, and asked if I could give him a little
rum, which I fumbled out of my holster as we were going along. He then naïvely
said, "I have been wounded, Colonel; would you have any objection to
my going to the doctor when I get in?" (This all under a heavy fire!)
[back]

(9) One of the first of the many who rode up to greet me on
my safe return was Lord Cardigan, riding composedly from the opposite direction.

The involuntary exclamation escaped me, "Holloa, Lord Cardigan! were not
you there? " to which he answered, "Oh, wasn't I, though! Here, Jenyns,
did not you see me at the guns?"

I then said, "I am afraid there are no such regiments left as the 13th
and 17th, for I can give no account of them," but before I had finished
the sentence, I caught sight of a cluster of them standing by their horses,
on the brow of the hill, in my front. [back]

(10) Lieutenant Martyn, Acting-Adjutant 4th Light Dragoons,
told me afterwards that, hearing my vociferations, he galloped off to Colonel
Shewell (whether by my order or not, he does not recollect, but he thinks that
I ordered him) and said, " Lord George is holloaing to you to close in
to the 8th," to which he replied, I know it, I bear him, and am doing my
best." [back]